Youthful emergences: Gordon's hiring led to further development of a number of young players. Defenseman Travis Sanheim averaged 16:07 of ice time in 31 games under Hakstol, mostly on the third pair. The 22-year-old was moved to the top pair with Ivan Provorov when Gordon took over, and has 21 points (six goals, 15 assists) and has averaged 21:30 of ice time in 45 games. Forward Oskar Lindblom was a bottom-six forward with four goals in 30 games under Hakstol; the 22-year-old has emerged as a top-six forward with nine goals in 45 games under Gordon. Philippe Myers, a 22-year-old defenseman, has looked impressive as an NHL regular since making his NHL debut Feb. 17. Forward Nolan Patrick recently has been centering the top line and has 20 points (eight goals, 12 assists) in 40 games under Gordon after the 20-year-old mostly centered the third line and had 10 points (five goals, five assists) under Hakstol. Forward Travis Konecny, 22, has 27 points (13 goals, 14 assists) in 45 games under Gordon after he had 19 points (nine goals, 10 assists) in his first 31 games.
Coaching change: The Flyers are 25-19-4 under Gordon, the seventh-best record in the Eastern Conference; they were 12-15-4 and 28th in the League standings when he took over. He instituted a few structural changes, most notably installing a 1-3-1 forecheck that helped the Flyers lower their goals-against per game to 3.00, from 3.74 under Hakstol, and turn to an even scoring differential after they were a minus-24. Gordon also helped tweak a penalty kill that is fifth in the NHL at 84.3 percent since he took over, compared to 30th in the League at 73.5 percent prior to his arrival. Gordon was promised the job for the remainder of the season, but he's done enough to receive strong consideration to remain behind the bench.
